Phenom II x4 955 BE Stock Cooler Replacement

[domsch1988]

Hi Guys,

2 months ago i build my self an inexpensive gaming rig. I got an Asrock 890GX Extreme3 with the x4 955 BE from a friend of mine.
I included a Asus GTX570 dcII and a Kingston HyperX 3k 128GB SSD. Al joined in an Xigmatek Asgard(got it for free used) with an Corsair CX650W PSU.

So, after using this rig for the past 2 months i'm really enjoying the performance of the rig. But since christmas is coming, and the stock cooler is ****** me off, i'm planing some improvements.
First off all the hole rig will be moved to an corsair 200r. And at the same time get an improved CPU cooler. This is the point where i could need some help.

Being a student i'm a bit tight on budget. The Top limit will be the H80i. I'm not going to spend more money than that.
Goals are: quiet, looks performance in that order. I'd like to overclock the x4 to maybe 4 Ghz but that's not really necessary by now. The whole build is black and blue so the cooler should tie into that theme.
The cheaper it gets the better. I mainly chose the H80i for looks because it gives a good view on the socket area.

So any recommendations on a mainly quiet cooler thats could save me some bucks and still performs ok?

 

[tinytomlogan]

Good view of the socket area when the 200R doesnt have a window????

The H80i will be good because you can use the link software to change fan speed on the fly.

Otherwise the front of the site is full of reviews for you to do some research.

 

[domsch1988]

Yeah, forgot to mention, that a window mod is on the todo list after christmas.

I've already done some research, but am not quiet sure yet if the H80i is a bit overkill for me. So other i considered are the be quiet Dark Rock pro or advanced. The NH-D14 would only be considered if it's significantly quieter then the others. I really don't like the looks of it at all.
Sp to change my question a bit. Would the Dark Rock Pro do well for what i want or is it to small to handle the CPU near silent?

 

[Pholostan]

We recently bough Thermalright TRUE Spirit 120 for use in the office. Plenty of reviews says it's silent, so hopefully it is
I will know more next week.

Edit: And the price was quite low, that was also one deciding factor.

Update: Very quiet, the fan never needs to go at full speed on the i7 3770 even at continuous full load with folding@home. Good for a quiet office.

 

[domsch1988]

So, little update.
I ordered the H80i and the 200r. I plan on doing a windowmod early next year. I also ordered one af120 qe for the case and a sp120 qe for the rad. Am i able to drive the H80i with a single sp120 qe?

Thanks for your Advice
Dominik

 

[tinytomlogan]

You waisted your money on the QE - I told you already you can use the link software so you can change the speeds if you want.

If you use the SP120 QE's you'll want two if you want to run them in quiet mode. They'll need to be connected to the psu NOT the h100 and you wont be able to use the link software.........